A Survey of Trust Management Models for Cloud Computing

Over the past few years, cloud computing has been widely adopted as a paradigm for large-scale infrastructures. In such a scenario, new security risks arise when different entities or domains share the same group of resources. Involved organizations need to establish some kind of trust relationships, able to define appropriate rules that can control which and how resources and services are going to be shared. The management of trust relationships represents a key challenge in order to meet high security requirements in cloud computing environments. This allows also to boost consumers confidence in cloud services, promoting its adoption. Establishing trust with cloud service providers supports to have confidence, control, reliability, and to avoid commercial issues like lock in. This paper proposes a survey of existing trust management models addressing collaboration agreements in cloud computing scenarios. Main limitations of current approaches are outlined and possible improvements are traced, as well as a future research path

Haplotypes in SLC24A5 Gene as Ancestry Informative Markers in Different Populations

Ancestry informative markers (AIMs) are human polymorphisms that exhibit substantially allele frequency differences among populations. These markers can be useful to provide information about ancestry of samples which may be useful in predicting a perpetrator’s ethnic origin to aid criminal investigations. Variations in human pigmentation are the most obvious phenotypes to distinguish individuals. It has been recently shown that the variation of a G in an A allele of the coding single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1426654 within SLC24A5 gene varies in frequency among several population samples according to skin pigmentation. Because of these observations, the SLC24A5 locus has been evaluated as Ancestry Informative Region (AIR) by typing rs1426654 together with two additional intragenic markers (rs2555364 and rs16960620) in 471 unrelated individuals originating from three different continents (Africa, Asia and Europe). This study further supports the role of human SLC24A5 gene in skin pigmentation suggesting that variations in SLC24A5 haplotypes can correlate with human migration and ancestry. Furthermore, our data do reveal the utility of haplotype and combined unphased genotype analysis of SLC24A5 in predicting ancestry and provide a good example of usefulness of genetic characterization of larger regions, in addition to single polymorphisms, as candidates for population-specific sweeps in the ancestral population

Milk pasteurization: efficiency of the HTST process according to its bacterial concentration

Em estudo crítico sobre o processo de pasteurização do leite pelo método HTST, os autores demonstraram que taxas elevadas de contaminação inicial do produto cru não constituem variável capaz de influenciar a eficiência do processo, aferida em termos da amplitude entre a carga bacteriana apatogênica mesófila aeróbia inicial e final do produto, sendo essa tanto menor quanto menor for o teor de tais bactérias no leite cru. Conceberam, ainda, modelo teórico cuja utilização possibilita o desenvolvimento de modelos simulados tanto para o monitoramento do controle da qualidade como para a avaliação da própria técnica de contagem bacteriana do leite (SPC).The efficiency of milk pasteurization (HTST) related to its standard plate count (SPC) values were assessed in 41 milk samples using a laboratory designed pasteurizing equipment. Based on results, it is demonstrated that efficiency of the process is affected by its bacterial concentration, where lower SPC values mean decrease in efficiency and that the performance of the process is not affected in presence of high SPC values in raw product

Development and Validation of MPS-Based System for Human Appearance Prediction in Challenging Forensic Samples

Forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP) provides the ability to predict the human external traits from unknown sample donors, directly from minute amounts of DNA found at the crime scene. We developed a MPS multiplex assay, with the aim of genotyping all 41 DNA markers included in the HIrisPlex-S system for simultaneous prediction of eye, hair and skin colours. Forensic samples such as blood, skeletal remains, touch DNA, saliva swab, artificially degraded samples together with individuals with known phenotypes and a set of 2800 M control DNA were sequenced on the Ion Torrent platform in order to evaluate the concordance testing results and the forensic suitability of the 41-plex MPS assay. The panel was evaluated by testing a different number of PCR cycles and the volume of reagents for library preparation. The study demonstrated that full and reliable profiles were obtained with 0.1–5 ng, even with high degraded DNA. The increment of the number of PCR cycles results in an improvement of correctly genotyping and phenotyping for samples with low amounts of degraded DNA but higher frequencies of artefacts were found. The high DNA degradation level did not influence the correct genotyping and phenotyping and the critical parameter affecting the result is the quantity of input DNA. Eye and hair colour was predicted in 92.60% of individuals and skin colour in 85.15% of individuals. The results suggest that this MPS assay is robust, highly sensitive and useful for human pigmentation prediction in the forensic genetic field

The Genetic Landscape of Serbian Populations through Mitochondrial DNA Sequencing and Non-Recombining Region of the Y Chromosome Microsatellites

The Balkan Peninsula is known to represent a complex cultural mosaic and it is a strategic area because it represents a gateway into Europe from the Near East. This research seeks to evaluate the variability of both uniparental markers (mtDNA and non-recombining region of the Y chromosome) to dissect the genetic makeup of Serbians. The whole sample pertains to 257 Serbians (87 from the central region and 170 from the southern area) who have been analyzed for both uniparental genetic markers. The results showed that the extant inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula have a homogeneous genetic background, despite their linguistic and cultural differences. The obtained data were compared with those of neighboring populations to detect possible relationships among groups. On the whole, the genetic variability of the Balkan populations seems to be due to an admixture process of European and Asian lineages in different proportions whose contributions constitute the current maternal and paternal genetic landscape

Castrum Novum (Santa Marinella, prov. de Rome)

Introduction(F. Enei, S. Nardi Combescure, G. Poccardi) Au cours du mois de septembre 2016, les recherches de terrain entreprises l’année précédente ont été poursuivies sur la colline du « Casale Alibrandi » (zone D) qui correspond au cœur de la colonie de Castrum Novum. Trois nouveaux sondages ont été ouverts : le sondage IV a permis de dégager une partie importante des remparts du IIIe siècle av. J. -C. ; le sondage V a intéressé des édifices relatifs à l’époque de fondation de la colonie ;..

Analysis of isometric strength and force-velocity relationship after 7 weeks of stable and unstable training on partial push up

Training with instability device seems to have useful adaptaments, but not all the autor confirm it. Instability training shows increase muscle activation due to the needed for stabilization. The increased stress associated with instability training has been postulated to promote greater neuromuscular adaptations, such as decreased co-contractions, improved intra and inter-coordination and set a lower stress on joint and muscle that can beneficial for musculoskeletal healt and rehabilitation. The aim of the research was to find the difference related in strength gain between an exercise under stable and unstable condition. Two groups of healty-fitness people follow a 7 weeks of stable and unstable training on partial push-up. The control group (CG) (n = 4, one female and three males, 25.0 ± 3.9 y) performed the push-up with hands on the floor, while the sperimental group (SG) (n = 7, two females and five males, 24.6 ± 2.3 y) performed push-up with hands on a Swissball. The execution time, the total volume and the articular ROM were standardized. The tests were: (1) a standardized isometric chest press and (2) force-velocity relationship of the chest muscle. For statistical analysis has been used the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test. The isometric strength has a positive correlation with the instability training (p 0.05). Instability training seems to show best adaptations on isometric strength, probably due to neural adaptations, while it seems that it doesn’t happen in force-velocity relationship, probably due to the standardized time of execution